“Heh heh. I knew you’d say that,” he said, the same innocent smile on his face while he began composing his magecraft.
Cain was an Ashen-Eyed mage. Among all the magecraft he was proficient with, controlling the dead was what he was best at. There wasn’t anyone else alive who could claim they were better than him at that.
At once, Cain revived Roy, despite Roy having been crushed by gravity just seconds earlier. What a fast revival rate.
“How rude, Abel. I guess I was right about expelling you from the party,” Roy said. “Tempest!”
Roy used the highest difficulty Wind Magecraft, causing violent, sharp blades of wind to fly towards me, gouging out the ground upon contact.
“I’m gonna fight too! We’re the only ones who can stop Abel!” Maria said.
“Just you wait, Abel! I’m gonna help open your eyes!” said Daytona.
In the next moment, both Maria and Daytona revived as well, and then proceeded to use their best magecrafts.
“Flare Buster!” shouted Maria.
“Snow World!” shouted Daytona.
It was a barrage of powerful fire and ice, combining to create a large explosion around me.
How annoying. It looks like Cain can pretty much perfectly copy their combat abilities from when they were alive. Two hundred years ago, the three of them were each weaker than I was. But in return, they were each better at their respective eye magecraft than me.
“Gungnir!”
That being said, I won’t let this battle be so one-sided that I’m always on the defense. So I used a Crimson Eye magecraft, Gungnir, which was of all Crimson Eye magecraft the hardest to compose. I’d made it to be the fastest and most powerful version possible.
“Inferno Blade!” Maria said, casting her next magecraft—a colossal blade of fire.
In the next moment, Maria cut my attack apart with it.
“Whaddya think of my magecraft?” she asked.
This is getting rough. There wasn’t anyone better than Maria when it came to Crimson Eye magecraft. It was only natural that I’d be at a disadvantage if I tried to compete with her by using the same type of magecraft.
“Heh heh. I know your weakness, Mr. Abel. It’s actually the fatal flaw of Amber-Eyed mages—generalists—like you,” Cain said.
My weakness, huh? It’s not something I want to admit, but it’s true that special cases like this make it more apparent.
As an Amber-Eyed mage, I could use all the elements, but never at a level as strong as someone who specialized in that area. If, for example, Maria could produce a Fire Magecraft at a hundred percent, I could only get to about ninety percent at best. The same went for everyone else.
Inferior Eyes, huh? Now that I think about it, that name hits the nail on the head. I was a jack-of-all-trades, but compared to the respective eye users, a master of none.
“Now, Mr. Abel, it’s time for you to become my next friend.”
Cain’s ultimate goal seemed to be killing me and then keeping me by his side as a doll. As a mage who excelled at controlling corpses, he could easily remove my memories from my corpse and control me as he wished, just like the three heroes here.
“How stupid,” I scoffed.
Now then. I’m ready for my counterattack. In the next moment, I activated the magecraft I’d set up in advance. The second that it activated, the three dolls froze.
“What are you doing?! He’s right there!” Cain screamed, not having expected that his dolls would stop moving. It was the first time in a very long time that I’d seen him so riled up.
“Huh? What am I...” Maria trailed off.
“What’s happening...? We’re friends. Why are we fighting?” Daytona asked.
The magecraft I used wasn’t one that dealt damage to the opponent. After all, I was sure that whatever injury I dealt, Cain could immediately heal it.
“I see... You’re manipulating their memories with magecraft? Not bad,” Cain said.
Bingo. I figured this out when I fought Ayane. The dolls that Cain had created were perfect replicas, but their fatal flaw was when they realized the paradox of their existence. It seemed that he’d manipulated their memories to view me as an enemy, but I used magecraft to return them to their senses.
“Ugh... What were we doing?” Roy groaned.
Their senses now returned, they couldn’t keep their identities intact for too long. It was the weakness of these fakes. Once a doll couldn’t maintain its sense of self, it’d fall apart on its own.
“Well done, Mr. Abel. This is why I revere you so much! You’re the only one who can cure my boredom!” Despite the dolls he’d made crumbling right before his eyes, Cain still spoke as if he was in complete control of the situation.
“How long are you gonna act like you’ve got nothing to worry about? It’s your turn to disappear,” I said, pointing the blade I’d made at him.
Honestly, all this time I’d felt guilty; two hundred years ago, it was I who had been unable to guide him down the right path.
“Heh heh. Fine, then. Allow me to show you the difference in strength between us after two hundred years,” Cain said. He eerily smiled as his right arm began transforming into an odd shape.
I’m sure of it. His arm has the same presence as the demons we fought two hundred years ago.
“I’ve achieved my ultimate, ideal body!” Cain declared, brandishing his strangely shaped arm.
He’s fast. Ashen-Eyed mages were proficient at healing themselves as well as using Body Fortification. They were known as the second strongest mages after Amber-Eyed mages because they were able to utilize both offensive and defensive magecraft.
But this level of attack is something I can easily deal with. I effortlessly cut off his hand with my blade. Yet in the next moment, a surprising thing happened. Despite being sure that I’d cut it off, it regenerated instantly.
“Not bad, but how about if I attack like this?!” Cain exclaimed.
Hm. Now his left arm is changing? It’s a lot more concentrated of an attack than before. I realized it’d be difficult to withstand it with Body Fortification Magecraft alone.
It’s best if I end this with one quick strike. I surrounded my feet with Wind Magecraft to slip past Cain’s attack and then swung my blade, scoring a critical hit from his shoulders to his torso, slicing through bone and all. For a human, this kind of hit would normally spell their end, but despite being dealt a fatal blow, Cain immediately regenerated.
“I see. So this won’t work either? You really are a monster on the battlefield as always, Mr. Abel.”
Good grief. You’re calling me the monster? That’s like the pot calling the kettle black. Cain was using the most basic Ashen Eye magecraft, Heal, to completely regenerate his severed body.
“I guess it’s time for me to get a little serious,” Cain said, creepy smile still in place as black wings sprouted from his back.
Hm. Most likely, Cain inserted demon cells into his own body. Every time he released more of his power, Cain’s figure slowly shifted further from a human’s.